Andy Butler struggling to put his finger on Doncaster Rovers' lack of spark

Rovers followed the defeat at Crewe Alexandra with a disappointingly flat performance to slug out a goalless draw with Northampton Town.

Butler is keen for his side to rediscover their creative spark but says further analysis is needed as he hunts for the root cause of their issues.

“It’s difficult to put your finger on at the moment to be honest but we have to look back on the last two performances and think where I can improve this team,” he said.

“We know we’ve got players who can open up any team. It’s not a lack of quality but there’s something missing for me.

“I think it’s about having that complete control, confidence and belief that we’ve got good players in tight areas.

“It was similar to the Crewe game in that we lacked that spark and a bit of belief in the final third so everything fell flat.

“It is where Gez [Paul Gerrard], myself and Alex [Bailey, analyst] have to sit down and have a look at the match to see where we fell down .

“There was some very good stuff in there, it was just the end product.”

Butler believes an element of fatigue may be impacting on his team after the demanding schedule.

And he revealed that influenced his team selection against Northampton, with James Coppinger and Taylor Richards starting on the bench.

“We had that spark before,” he said.

“It happens in seasons and it is a little bit of tiredness maybe.

“We’ve asked a lot of the players off the ball so maybe that has impacted on them on the ball.

“It’s something for us to look at and address.

“We have the data from the GPS systems and it just flagged up a couple of players that had exceeded their limit.

“It might sound strange that people can’t play 90 minutes after 90 minutes, but you just have to manage them through certain injuries.

“That is why the team started as it was and certain players were on the bench.

“You have to be careful with the players because you’d rather them miss 45 minutes than three weeks.”

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